Head of Regulatory Affairs North America, Food and Beverage

The Role and Your Impact

Welcome to the role of Head of Regulatory Affairs, North America, Food and Beverage where you will lead a team in a people manager role, leading and developing regulatory professionals who help turn science and regulation into real-world impact. The team enables safe, compliant growth and innovation by translating evolving food regulations into clear, actionable guidance for commercial, technical, and operational teams across the US and Canada.

As the manager, you will provide direction, prioritization, coaching, and stakeholder alignment while ensuring strong execution on dossiers, customer questions, product launches, digitalization, change management, regulatory intelligence, and process improvement. The team works closely with other areas of the business.

We are strengthening regulatory intelligence capabilities, digitalizing and harmonizing ways of working, and building expertise in emerging ingredients, labeling/claims developments, and new regulatory pathways across North America.

Key Responsibilities in this role

• This position works with a high level of autonomy and is responsible for leading North America Regulatory Affairs activities and people priorities that enable compliant business growth, customer support, innovation, and operational excellence across the US and Canada.
• Strategic people leadership by coaching, and developing direct reports, including setting priorities, clarifying expectations, supporting performance and development conversations, and building capabilities across US and Canada regulatory topics.
• Provide strategic and operational regulatory leadership for relevant food ingredient and food segments in the US and Canada; monitor, interpret, and communicate regulatory changes and potential business impact to internal stakeholders.
• Ensure timely, accurate regulatory guidance to internal stakeholders and customers regarding product and ingredient regulatory status, specifications, labeling/claims as applicable, and manufacturing/process considerations; support team escalation and decision-making on complex topics.
• Oversee and support preparation of regulatory dossiers, notifications, submissions, and compliance documentation for the US and Canada in collaboration with Global Regulatory Affairs and local resources.

What You’ll Need to be Successful

Required Qualifications

• BS degree; or master’s degree preferred in Engineering, Food Science, Pharmacy, Nutrition, Chemistry, Biology, or related Natural Sciences.
• 10+ years in Regulatory Affairs within the food industry or a related regulated industry
• Experience supporting US and/or Canada regulatory deliverables such as enzymes, cultures, probiotics, ingredients, labeling/claims support, dossiers, notifications, and customer/regulatory documentation. People leadership experience is required, including coaching, prioritization, performance management, and development of regulatory professionals.

Core Competencies

• Strong regulatory judgment, stakeholder management, people leadership, project prioritization, and communication skills. Strong computer/IT skills, including working knowledge of Microsoft Office programs; experience with digital tools, reporting, dashboards, or workflow optimization is a plus.
• English (read/write/speak). Spanish is a plus.
• Cross cultural awareness and experience working in a global environment.

You will have the opportunity to

• Partner with business, technical, and innovation teams to define compliant regulatory pathways for new products, line extensions, and process changes, while ensuring regulatory deliverables are prioritized, resourced, tracked, and communicated.
• Represent North America Regulatory Affairs in relevant industry or trade association activities, as needed, and build external regulatory insight to support business continuity and advocacy priorities.
• Drive continuous improvement, digital transformation, harmonized ways of working, reporting, and internal training to improve transparency, efficiency, and quality of regulatory support.
• Support procurement-related regulatory processes and supplier/customer documentation needs where regulatory input is required.

Ways of Working

Hybrid: This role requires some office-based time in West Allis or Milwaukee, Wisconsin with increased flexibility to work from home. Travel: Approximately 30%, including team engagement, stakeholder meetings, customer or industry interactions, and site/business needs.